The present invention relates to innovative electronic stimulation equipment for treatment of the human body. By xe2x80x98stimulation equipmentxe2x80x99 is meant here equipment for application to the human body of stimuli produced by both direct and indirect electrical currents. The stimulus can be electrical, magnetic, luminous, heat, et cetera. Not only EMS (Electrical Muscle Stimulation) electrostimulators or TENS (Transcutaneous Nerve Stimulation) in which the electrical current is applied directly to the body are included but also equipment whose stimulation action is obtained through electrical or electromagnetic fields or through the emission of luminous radiation with predetermined frequencies for example in the infrared range.
Known equipment includes a control unit to which stimuli emission members such as electrodes of the type suited for the particular desired stimuli are connected by means of electrical wires. Since the number of members or electrodes can be relatively high the difficulties which can be encountered during their application to the body are evident. For example with direct electrostimulation produced by means of the difference in potential applied to a pair of electrodes there can be up to sixteen electrode pairs and therefore thirty-two electrical conductors usually at least a couple of meters long which connect the control unit to the user""s body.
In addition to the possibility for the wires to tangle and knot together creating considerable confusion there is the objective impossibility for the user to move with a certain freedom. In addition it becomes difficult to recognize which electrodes are associated in a pair and which of the controls at the control unit correspond to a given pair.
This becomes particularly important when an operator or user wishes to individually regulate operating parameters of individual electrode pairs through the controls arranged on the control unit.
To reduce the difficulty of identification simple solutions have been offered in the prior art such as the use of wires of different colors for each emission member or electrode or electrode pair. In the case of direct electrical stimulation it has even been proposed to begin the treatment with all intensities at zero to then increase intensity one electrode pair at a time so that the contracting muscle on which electrode pair regulation is being done would be apparent.
Even when the intensities have been perfectly regulated at the beginning of a treatment, during an electrostimulation cycle further regulations can become necessary even due to the only fact that skin conductivity can vary for example because of perspiration produced by the physical activity resulting from the electrostimulation or even by the mere presence of the electrode which impedes perspiration.
The difficulty of these further regulations is evident especially in the frequent case when the user is left alone and therefore must make the regulation himself with the obstacle of the connecting wires and the difficulty of associating an electrode pair with the corresponding regulation control. In some professional versions of electrostimulation equipment a remote control is provided through which the subject himself undergoing the session can independently regulate the intensity of the electrical impulses without having to reach the equipment control console. But the difficulty of finding the association between electrode pairs whose effect it is desired to regulate and regulation control remains.
The general purpose of the present invention is to overcome the above shortcomings by supplying electronic stimulation equipment in which the need for cumbersome connecting wires is eliminated.
In view of this purpose it is sought to provide in accordance with the present invention electronic equipment for the production of stimuli for treatment of the human body comprising a base unit and at least one satellite unit with the satellite unit comprising in turn a power supply battery and means powered by this battery for producing an electric signal and applying it to a stimuli emission member in response to said signal with the base unit comprising means of generating at least one actuation and de-actuation command for production of the electrical signal of the satellite unit with the base unit and satellite units being connected by a wireless transmission for the transfer of said command from one to the other.